Mar. 13, 2012 (China Knowledge) - Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd<0293>, the flagship carrier of Hong Kong, has said Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2.12 million passengers in February 2012, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 4.0%.

Passenger load factor for last month reached 74.5%, 2.8 percentage points lower than that in February 2011. Capacity for last month, measured in available seat kilometers or ASKs, increased by 8.8%.

The two airlines' cargo and mail throughput for February 2012 totaled 117,880 metric tons, up 0.8% year on year. Cargo and mail load factor amounted to 65.8%, 1.8 percentage points lower than that in the same month of last year. Capacity, measured in available cargo and mail tone km, increased 4.7%.

James Woodrow, General Manager of Cathay Pacific Cargo Sales & Marketing, said that the company's key markets remained soft, with weak demand to Europe in particular out of Hong Kong and Shanghai, although the February cargo figures, with comparisons with 2011 distorted by the Chinese New Year effect, look reasonably ok on the surface.

In the first two months of this year, the company’s passenger volume grew 8.1% year on year, while its cargo and mail throughput fell 10.4%.